


as cliche as it gets

by forwardpass



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Gen, Rule 63, Team Feels, mitch/auston if you squint, romance novels, video games - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 09:25:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12884904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forwardpass/pseuds/forwardpass
Summary: Right around the Draft, though, Mitch kind of just… stopped giving a shit.Enjoying romance novels became the hill she was willing to die on.





	as cliche as it gets

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sheyrenawyrsabane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheyrenawyrsabane/gifts).



> I really hope you like this! I enjoy the challenge of trying to tell a story in a flash fic.
> 
> The excerpt is from one of my favorite regency romance novels, _Any Duchess Will Do_ by Tessa Dare.

Swear to god, if Mitch wasn’t so good at hockey, she’d definitely have gone pro in COD.

She loves it, loves video games in general. The power of a sniper rifle, the validation of a killstreak. And she’s _good_. She’s smart, with a head for strategy. Great hand-eye coordination and reflexes. Top notch chirps.

Best elo on every team she’s ever been on.

But.

It was a skill partially learned out of necessity.

She played video games with her brother when she was little, of course. Mario Kart, Sonic, games like that. But it only became A Thing when she was a little older, the only girl on highly competitive travel teams, desperately wanting to belong. All of the boys played video games religiously. Mostly first person shooters. Like Call of Duty.

Her love of COD is genuine, but it was borne out of a desire to fit in with her teammates, her boys. She plays and pwns them nowadays for herself, but it started for them.

Her romance novels? Those are just for her.

 

\--

 

In juniors she fiercely guarded her Kindle. There was nothing sixteen year old Mitch dreaded more than her boys finding out she read _regency romance novels_. Like some sort of _girl_. How cliché. She would never be able to live it down.

Right around the Draft, though, Mitch kind of just… stopped giving a shit.

Fuck the haters.

Enjoying romance novels became the hill she was willing to die on.

They were pure, silly, happy fun—written by women _for_ women—and Mitch decided that she was done being ashamed.

 

\--

 

 _The girl sparkled._ Sparkled _, deuce her. Griff couldn’t help staring. Hours of coach travel hadn’t dislodged those sugar crystals dusting her form, and his eye couldn’t stop searching them out. They were like grains of brilliant sand strewn in her hair, clinging to her skin. Even tangled in her eyelashes._

_Worst of all, one tiny crystal had lodged itself just at the corner of her mouth. His awareness of it had long passed distracting and verged on maddening…_

 

“What are you reading?”

The voice broke the spell the words had woven for her, and Mitch glanced up to see Marty trying to read over her shoulder.

“Sparkles? Mitchy, are you reading Twilight? On the team plane?!”

Mitch laughed and shoved him out of her personal bubble and back towards his seat. “So what if I am?”

Naz’s head popped up a few rows away. “Is that a fine?”

Mo and Naz immediately started debating the fine-ability of Stephanie Meyer and Marty wandered off to defend Mitch’s honor, no doubt.

Mitch had just woken her phone back up to keep reading when someone else slid into the seat next to her.

“Are you really reading Twilight?” Auston asked.

“No,” Mitch laughed. “But I am reading a romance novel. Like, a Pride & Prejudice type one, with English dukes and swooning ladies and all that jazz.”

“Nice,” Auston said. “My sisters read books like that.” He glanced down at her phone, and his eyes moved as if he had started to read.

Mitch noticed the Nintendo Switch in his hands. “Did you want to play?”

Auston shrugged. “Sure, but we don’t have to. We play video games a lot. I don’t mind reading.”

“Are you sure?” Mitch asked. “It’s like, girly. And sappy and cliché. This one is literally about a duke who falls in love with a serving girl.”

Auston shrugged again. “So?” He stretched out his legs in front of him and leaned closer, expectantly.

Mitch smiled and leaned closer as well, holding her phone up between them.

 

_“Let it out, your grace. You’ll feel better.” She looked to him with false concern and a coy, conspiratorial smile._

_Oh, he liked this girl. He liked her a great deal…_

**Author's Note:**

> "elo" is a gaming player rating system named after the dude who made it up

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] as cliche as it gets](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17059361) by [silverandblue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverandblue/pseuds/silverandblue)




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